Machinery and guarding
Moving parts can create crushing, cutting, entanglement and other serious risks.
Machine guarding, interlocks and safety devices need to remain effective and appropriate for how the equipment is actually being used.
We provide practical WHS management for small and medium manufacturers, fabricators, engineering workshops and industrial service businesses.
MANUFACTURING & INDUSTRIAL
In a small or medium manufacturing business, safety is usually one of many things competing for attention.
Machines need to keep running. Maintenance gets scheduled. Materials move through the workshop. Workers need training. Forklifts operate around people. Chemicals, tools and equipment need managing.
Meanwhile, WHS records, procedures and actions still need to stay current.
The Safety Dept. helps manage the WHS system behind your operation, giving your business ongoing structure and follow-through without needing a full internal safety team.
BUILT AROUND YOUR OPERATION
Manufacturing risks don't sit neatly inside a WHS folder.
Your WHS system needs to reflect how your operation actually runs.
That means keeping track of:
We help keep those moving parts organised.
MANUFACTURING RISK MANAGEMENT
Different manufacturing businesses have different processes, but many face the same challenge: keeping controls effective while production, equipment and work activities change.
Moving parts can create crushing, cutting, entanglement and other serious risks.
Machine guarding, interlocks and safety devices need to remain effective and appropriate for how the equipment is actually being used.
Cleaning, clearing blockages, servicing and repairing machinery can expose workers to unexpected movement or stored energy.
Isolation procedures need to identify energy sources, control them and prevent equipment from restarting while people are exposed.
Forklifts often operate close to workers, delivery drivers, storage areas and production activities.
Traffic routes, pedestrian separation, operator competency and safe movement need to work together.
Fabrication and industrial work can involve welding fumes, gases, paints, solvents, chemicals and other hazardous substances.
The risks, controls, SDS, storage, PPE and worker information need to match the substances and processes being used.
Repetitive work, awkward materials, lifting, pushing and handling components can create physical strain and injury risks.
Work layout, equipment and the way tasks are performed should reduce unnecessary manual handling where reasonably practicable.
A new machine, different material or modified production process can introduce new hazards.
Risk assessments, procedures, training and controls need to keep pace when the operation changes.
ONGOING WHS MANAGEMENT
Depending on your business and agreed scope, we can help manage:
The goal is simple: keep the WHS system behind your operation current, organised and working.
WHO WE SUPPORT
Our WHS services support businesses including:
Our focus is practical WHS management for businesses that need strong safety systems without building a large internal safety function.
MANUFACTURING WHS FAQs
Manufacturing & Industrial WHS FAQs
Common risks include machinery and moving parts, inadequate guarding, isolation during maintenance, forklifts and mobile plant, hazardous chemicals, welding and hot work, manual tasks, noise and interaction between workers and equipment. The specific risks depend on the machinery, materials and processes used by your business.
Machine guarding prevents workers from accessing dangerous moving parts or other hazardous areas of machinery. Depending on the equipment, this may involve fixed guards, interlocked guards or other safeguarding systems. Guards and safety devices need to remain effective during normal operation and should not be bypassed or removed while machinery is operating.
Lock out tag out is part of a safe isolation process used to prevent machinery or equipment from unexpectedly starting or releasing hazardous energy while cleaning, maintenance, repair or similar work is being carried out. The isolation process needs to account for all relevant energy sources and stored energy before work begins.
Yes. A worker operating a forklift that requires a high-risk work licence must hold the appropriate current licence. Businesses also need to make sure operators are competent to use the specific equipment and that forklifts are safely managed within the workplace.
The records required depend on the operation, but they can include risk assessments, safe operating procedures, machinery and maintenance records, training and competency records, licences, chemical registers and SDS, inspection records, incidents and evidence that corrective actions have been completed.
Yes. We help small and medium manufacturing and industrial businesses manage agreed parts of their WHS system, including procedures, registers, machinery and competency records, inspections, incidents, corrective actions and ongoing WHS administration. The exact support depends on your machinery, workforce, processes and business requirements.
Your team has work to get through. Your supervisors have people, machinery and production to manage. You have a business to run. We help keep the WHS system behind all of it current, organised and moving.
No obligation either way.